Manovikas Family Network

Through the Information, Referral and Resource creation, MFN can help on the phone and virtually to link with information on various disabilities topics, including child care referrals, school assistance, requests for parent-to-parent support and bereavement services. If you have questions about your child’s needs, please message MFN in the group. If MFN cannot help, chances are we know someone who can!

Going through dependency proceedings is challenging. If you think you have to do it alone, think again! Parent Mentors can connect you to a parent who has been through the system, has reunified with their children, and is eager to offer their assistance. They are called “Parent Mentors,”

The Role of the Mentor

MFN Parent Mentor Services Program collaborates with Manovikas Charitable Society and its programme and projects to provide one-on-one mentorship and support to parents receiving Family Reunification services.
Many experience isolation and loneliness because of unfamiliar terms and expectations. Meeting a Parent Mentor who has successfully survived the emotional challenges of reunifying with their children can be a source of hope and inspiration for a parent entering the reunification process.
With the guidance and support of a Parent Mentor, parents will understand how the system operates and the best way to utilise what it has to offer.

Learning that your child has a disability is one of the most challenging things for a parent to hear. The anger, confusion, depression and devastation accompanying this news are all common reactions. It can be difficult for a parent to cope with this news when they don’t know where to seek help. MFN provides emotional support, information, and resources to parents of a child born “at risk” for a developmental or cognitive delay or severe medical condition.

Every month, the Parent-to-Parent Programs hosts support groups.
Families experiencing a change of dynamic and lifestyle for their young adult child with special needs are often overwhelmed, frustrated and emotionally drained. Transitioning from childhood to adulthood is daunting. So much must be considered. MFN parent mentors are ready to assist you in sorting out the details.
Topics intended for family well-being will vary each month.
Challenges to family well-being can be tricky when they occur together and build up over time. When parents are overwhelmed, their hope and motivation may waver. However, MFN can re-energize families through their passion for their children. MFN can then help families develop strategies to protect or restore family well-being. Programs can also combine respectful, goal-oriented family partnerships with solid connections to community resource providers to support overall family well-being.

Manovikas School for Inclusion (MSI) team and Person-Centered Planning (PCP) Team collaborate to provide a free behaviour management program for families with children and adults. It focuses on educating families about proper behaviour management strategies, improving their parent-child relationship, and recognising the importance of children’s mental health. 

Family well-being is characterised, in part, by the overall safety and stability of family members. This can include housing stability, neighbourhood security, and personal welfare, such as adult and child safety in the home and neighbourhood.
Housing
Affordable, stable housing in a safe, supportive area is integral to family well-being.

Neighbourhoods
Neighborhood security contributes to family safety. Physically safe areas have resources supporting family activities, promoting health, and supporting community connections, such as parks, sidewalks or walking paths, libraries, and community centres. Neighbourhood safety can foster meaningful social opportunities for young children to
Learn social customs,
Develop confidence in their communities, and
Build interpersonal relationships.

Personal Safety:
MFN partnerships with providers in local child abuse and domestic violence agencies can be essential to support families and children in physical or emotional danger. Teams can also help families recognise home safety hazards based on their children’s age or developmental level. 
Food Security: MFN serves as a protective factor by providing nutritious breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. MFN team can also help families access community resources such as food from other sources.
Child abuse and domestic violence: Child abuse and domestic violence have been the focus of far more research than can be covered in this MFN resource. 
Here are a few essential findings: 
Exposure to violence and abuse can be considered a form of “toxic stress.” This can interfere with early brain development and lead to adverse short- and long-term consequences for children
Violence between adult partners is associated with losing parent-child closeness and increased child neglect.
Unintentional injuries: For young children, accidental injuries are the leading cause of death among children ages one to five. Falls are the leading cause of non-fatal injuries in children birth to five.
Cultural safety: also refers to an approach to service delivery that respectfully engages families to select the most appropriate path to well-being. 

As part of their comprehensive services to children and families, MFN can support families to find a medical home to access prenatal services and establish ongoing physical and mental health care for the whole family.
By building relationships with healthcare providers in the community, MFN programs can connect with providers who understand a family’s cultural values and explain family and disability issues.
Understanding the resources that can:

• Facilitate families’ access to health care services,
• Increase connections between community organisations and pediatric health services, and
• Promote regular Mental Health Care, Oral Health Care, General Medical Care and child care.

Parental Health: Parental health status includes physical, oral, and mental health. All can impact children when any family member experiences poor health and limited medical access.

• Parents with high-stress levels and depression can have a more limited capacity to participate in positive parenting
• Practices, such as affectionate, responsive parent-child interactions. This can have long-term effects on children’s health and response to stressors.

MFN provides family members with opportunities for social interactions and peer support. Manovikas’s research also indicates that families do better long-term when they see their children doing well.
“Complex Care Management” is a set of activities designed to assist patients and their caregivers more effectively in managing medical conditions and co-occurring psychosocial factors. Most medical networks and governmentally provided programs provide a case management option for clients but do not guide the families or individuals outside the individual system’s constraints. Youth with significant medical conditions and behavioural and/or mental health diagnoses have multiple layers of involvement with community resources, health provider agencies/networks, governmentally funded agencies and departments and health care providers. Little direction is given to families/youth outside of each agency independently.

Parent’s mental health can affect children’s outcomes, including their mental health. Mothers’ depression in pregnancy is associated with poor maternal nutrition and weight gain, as well as premature births, low birth weight, and attachment issues. Depression can also directly impact parenting practices and families’ abilities to nurture positive relationships with children that are needed to promote early learning and development.

Financial security includes families’ ability to earn an income to care for basic living expenses, manage their money, pay debts, save money, and build assets.
Income and Education: Poverty can affect child outcomes. During early childhood, poverty is more damaging than it is later in a child’s life and is related to lower Long-term academic achievement, adult employment, and earning power. Parents’ educational levels are closely associated with income and opportunity.
Adult Education and Training: MFN programs support family self-sufficiency by caring for children while parents participate in job skills training or attend school. In addition, programs can offer information to families about training and education opportunities in the community. By partnering with community organisations, educational institutions, and local workforce centres, MFN programs can help families identify opportunities that support their long-term earning potential. MFN team will also work for the parents’ education and upgradation of skills.

Financial Stability

Asset-Building Strategies: Family asset-building focuses on educating families about financial opportunities that may help them increase and sustain economic security.
Asset-building can help families to receive public benefits, access safe, affordable financial products and services, utilise tax credits and free tax preparation, understand personal finance and budgeting, relieve debt and build or repair credit, save for an emergency or future goal, and invest in education, home ownership, or a business.